Genes make men prefer blue, women
pink

It’s now scientific. The notion
that little girls like everything in
pink while little boys opt for blue
seems to have a scientific basis.

Scientists have found that one’s color
preference depends largely on one’s
sex.

The researchers, Anya Hurlbert and
Yazhu Ling of Newcastle University,
the United Kingdom, found that women
tend to prefer pink – or, at least a
redder shade – while men fancy blue,
and that the gender difference may be
more because of genes than upbringing.

The study, published in the journal
Current Biology, investigated the view
– held for long but largely
unsupported until now – that men and
women differ in their color
preferences. It is also the first
study to show that there is a
scientific basis for the idea that
girls are born with a particular
affinity for pink.

However, despite the evidence for
differences between the sexes in terms
of visual skills, there was no
conclusive proof of sex differences in
color preference. “This fact is
perhaps surprising given the
prevalence and longevity of the notion
that little girls differ from boys in
preferring pink,” Anya Hurlbert and
Yazhu Ling said.

Dr Hurlbert recruited 208 people aged
between 20 and 26 for the study and
subjected them to a set of tests to
determine their color preferences. A
substantial minority – 37 – of the
group were born and raised in China,
which allowed the scientists to
compare the preferences of people from
two different cultures.

As fast as they could, each young man
and woman had to choose their
preferred color from a series of
paired, colored rectangles shown on a
computer screen. The universally
preferred color for both sexes was
blue, but females also showed a
distinct preference for reddish
colors.

Dr Hurlbert explains: “Though we
expected to find sex differences, we
were surprised at how robust they
were, given the simplicity of the
test. On top of the universal
preference for blue, females have a
preference for the red end of the
red-green axis, and this shifts their
color preference slightly away from
blue towards red, which tends to make
pinks and lilacs the most preferred
colors in comparison with others.”

When the two scientists compared the
color preferences of the white British
participants with the men and women
brought up in China, the same sex
differences emerged – with Chinese
females again showing a clear
preference for pink. This suggests
that, whatever is the underlying
explanation for the differences in
color preferences between men and
women, it seems to be biological
rather than cultural, Dr Hurlbert
concludes.

Human vision is trichromatic, meaning
that we have three color-sensitive
pigments in our eyes – like chimps,
gorillas, and other apes. Biologists
believe that trichromatic vision in
primates came about as a result of the
need to distinguish ripened fruit, as
well as young, nutritious leaves, in a
forest canopy.

However, early human societies almost
certainly engaged in a division of
labor between the sexes, with men
traveling long distances to hunt wild
game. Women foraged locally for fruit
and berries.

Dr Hurlbert suggests that this
division of labor may be at the root
of why girls now prefer pink.

As for the wider human preference for
blue, Dr Hurlbert said this may have
something to do with our love for the
grassy plains of our place of origin,
in Africa, where the sky is an
important feature of the landscape.